Starting To Get The Picture
by marshtomp madness
Summary: Gwendal and Murata disagree on a lot of little things... but that's something that all lovers get over.  And when they get over it?  That's when they realize that they're in love.  Gwendal/Murata.  Rated for mature content that isn't totally a lemon.


Warning: inappropriate content ahead, really only like a short paragraph because I tried not to fall apart from shame as I wrote it and there are heavy heavy implications. Murata and Gwendal get a little kinky during a meeting. And after.

This is supposed to be read as part of my other fic with them, showing the ways that they really fell in love. It's in the middle. Personally I like that fic better, but, whatever.

* * *

Gwendal is a morning person, because his circadian rhythm is oddly similar to that of the earth, going to bed a couple hours after sundown and waking up a little after sunrise. Maybe he's forced it to be that way (Murata isn't sure). But Murata is a night owl, because he is a student, but a little more than that too. Because it's just a part of who he is, the same way it's a part of Gwendal that the roosters wake him up, and the coming out of the stars puts him to sleep.

It's caused a lot of irritation between them. Especially since Murata "has a habit of" (read: takes delight in) sneaking into Gwendal's bed at odd hours of the night.

"Oof," says Murata, flopping down onto Gwendal's bed and making himself comfortable, shifting around sheets and making Gwendal cold. "Man, your bed is the most comfortable in the castle! Why isn't mine this nice?"

Gwendal is pretending to be asleep still (but Murata isn't fooled, Gwendal has no idea how loudly he _actually _snores when he's asleep), so Murata nuzzles in close. Like they're puppies, or something. Yes, Murata knows that if he acts cute, Gwendal will be _helpless_ against his charm.

"Are you awake _yet?_"

"No."

Murata grins. "Good, wouldn't want to bother you."

And then in the morning:

(Murata likes to pretend that this is playful banter between two lovers. It is, in actuality, the cranky morning conversation of an old married couple. This should have been his first clue that he was in too deep.)

"Come _on_," Murata will mumble, when Gwendal wakes up with the sun and disturbs the bed by trying to fix it around Murata. "You wake me up every day when you wake up, and I've only been asleep since two in the morning."

"And whose fault was that?"

"Time for thinking is later. Let me sleep. Stop fixing the bed sheets. I'll do it later."

"Go ahead, go back to sleep. I never said you couldn't."

"You're making it impossible," groans Murata, and pulls the bedsheets over his head to shield his eyes from the light.

Or that's how Gwendal says the conversation usually goes. Murata never remembers being so grumpy, or really anything he said at all at that time. Gwendal always apologizes later for waking him up, and Murata says it's all right, because Gwendal has his work to do, and Murata will have to leave in a few minutes anyway or risk getting caught.

(Of course, the fact that suddenly Gwendal's normally-meticulously-made bed is always rumpled these days is fodder for much talk among the maids. And they've got bets going, as usual. Sangria, who is the only one whose name Murata can remember, is betting on Gunter, while the blonde one is betting on Anissina, and the redhead has put quite a bit of money on His Majesty Yuri, and seems quite titillated by the idea of what Wolfram's reaction would be if that were the truth. Murata is spared the indignity of suspicion by being rather less attractive than the other three choices.)

* * *

Murata loves sweet foods—can't get enough—and Gwendal can't stand them. He remembers bringing Gwendal dark chocolate bunnies from Earth one time, which Jennifer of Yokohama had very cheerfully helped him prepare.

"I brought you something. It's from Earth," said Murata, holding up the bag. Gwendal's puzzled frown which he made at that moment was Murata's favorite expression of his, and he did everything he could to puzzle Gwendal all day, every day.

"This is… chocolate," said Gwendal, who was trying to be polite but miserably failing. "I am very grateful." Murata hears, _you know I don't like sweet things_. So that's what he responds to.

"It's not sweet."

Gwendal sighs, and takes one out of the bag. "If you say so…" He chews it for a moment, thoughtfully. "Ah. It's bitter."

Murata nods, happily. "Do you like it?"

Gwendal nodded, too busy munching on the bunnies to answer aloud.

* * *

Gwendal can knit, and Murata can't. More importantly to Gwendal, Murata doesn't understand why Gwendal enjoys it so much.

Knitting is what taught Gwendal patience, the sort of patience that one needs to control the element of earth (that from which spring all other elements: the element of earth is that which rules over all else). The earth moves when it damn well pleases, and Gwendal has had to learn to work _with _it, and not over it. It was the same with knitting.

There's a sort of trance-like hypnosis, a deep concentration, in which there is nothing but Gwendal, and the needles, and the yarn, and when he comes out of that state there is a fluffy stuffed animal waiting for him. And okay. So maybe it never looks like what it's supposed to look like, but Gwendal doesn't care. It's cute, and that's all that matters.

This is Gwendal's passion.

In only one of his past lives did Murata learn to knit, Gwendal finds out.

"I didn't like it," says Murata, scratching the back of his head and grinning awkwardly. "It wasn't for me."

"It's not for everyone," Gwendal agrees. "But perhaps you could try it again."

Eventually, he convinces Murata to try it again: "It's like riding a bicycle. You never forget." And he plies him with needles, and with yarn. They knit together for hours, in silence, and Murata doesn't say this, doesn't even hint at it, and he honestly tries at his knitting, but Gwendal knows Murata is only there because Gwendal really, really wanted it. That's when Gwendal thinks that maybe, Murata really does love him after all.

(On a side note: Gwendal tried not to be too excited when Murata's knitting came out worse than his own.)

* * *

Gwendal does not like modern Earth music.

Murata is frankly quite partial to it. Especially popular English music, and especially in comparison to Demon Kingdom symphonies. He's rather fond of Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga. And Fergie, and Beyonce. (Sometimes he even does the Single Ladies dance with Jennifer, in their matching aprons, while they cook. They learned it when they saw the music video on television. Shibuya is seriously missing out on the world's most fun mother, but it's okay.)

"Why is that woman not wearing very much clothing?" Gwendal asks curiously, upon his first exposure to Lady Gaga through a music video on the internet.

(They think it is possibly their most impressive accomplishment ever, getting Gwendal briefly to the human world without raising eyebrows. Even now, Murata is not sure exactly how he explained it except that it _worked_.)

Murata laughs. He loves the way that Gwendal is always so full of questions about the human world. Mostly because he gets this weird bemused look on his face.

"She doesn't always look like that."

"Do women really wear such little clothes in your world? Doesn't it get cold?"

"We can heat rooms much more efficiently than you do with fire."

"Hmph."

"But lots of people use fireplaces anyway. They like the home-y feel it gives the room."

There was a pause, in which only the sound of the synthetically enhanced voice of Lady Gaga could be heard, as well as a thumping bass beat that shook the pencil case on Murata's desk next to the speaker.

"The beat of this music reminds me of Demon Kingdom symphonies," says Gwendal suddenly. "Very powerful. Also unique in its rhythm. I do prefer your classical music, however. It's relaxing."

"This music is supposed to be sexy," says Murata. "Not really powerful."

Gwendal shrugs. "Hmph."

And so what if Murata can't dance? Gwendal can, but not the way that this music requires, so Murata jumps up and down holding Gwendal's hands, while Gwendal remains seated in the chair. He swings his hips, pretending that he's doing it in a most enticing fashion, and stoic, grumpy Gwendal laughs heartily (and blushes a little, so maybe it really was enticing after all).

Murata stops to kiss him on the nose.

* * *

Meeting time is sacred. It is the time in which the heads of state (well, mostly Gwendal's family and a few others) group together and decide things that will affect the whole Demon Kingdom. It is important. It is not something to be taken lightly.

...To Gwendal.

Murata, on the other hand, gets bored. Mostly he behaves, because he knows it's important, but it doesn't change the fact that the intricacies of bureaucracy do not thrill him.

What _does _thrill him?

Footsie under the table and innuendo wherever he can fit it into a sentence. Really, Gwendal is surprised at the fact that the others don't notice... or if they do notice, he's surprised that no one has commented yet.

Then again, Murata's impressive double entendres about the status of farms in the northern lands are things that would go over the head of most of the members there except for probably Conrart and Josak, and they're too busy doing the same thing that Murata and Gwendal are to care if they notice.

_hey there_, Murata writes, and shoves at Gwendal, because Yuri is asleep and Wolfram is trying to wake him up and Gunter is talking rapturously about the state of the kingdom now that Yuri's in charge and Conrart and Josak are... er, otherwise occupied in much the same way.

**_Please pay attention_**, Gwendal writes back.

_No one else is. :)_

Murata's foot is tracing circles on Gwendal's leg, very, very lightly.

**_I am busy right now_**

Gwendal finds that his writing is a little shaky, so he presses the pen to the paper harder and hope nobody notices that he is blushing furiously. Murata's foot goes higher.

_Are you still busy?_

**_Yes._**

Gwendal glances over at Murata, who gives him a small friendly smile, betraying nothing about what he says he's feeling or doing, and it's so quick Gwendal wonders if he imagined it. Gwendal quietly slips the note into his pocket so nobody will find it accidentally.

Wolfram drops his pencil and reaches down to get it from under the table, and it's only when Murata's foot is no longer touching his leg that he misses it.

But that doesn't change the fact that later, when everyone else has left early because Gwendal couldn't stand the farce of a meeting any further and ended it, that he berates Murata.

"You," he mumbles, red-faced and flustered, decidedly not standing up for fear of what Murata might notice what the results of his actions were, "are absolutely shameless."

Murata shrugs and takes off his glasses to fiddle with them, which he knows (so manipulative!) Gwendal finds adorable. "What are you talking about? I didn't say anything. Maybe you're just a perverted old man."

Gwendal leans on his elbows on the table, covering his face in his hands.

"I can't believe you. What if somebody had noticed? Wouldn't you be _embarrassed_?"

"Nobody would've noticed," Murata scoffed, leaning on Gwendal's chair.

"Why do I even let you do this?" Gwendal said with a groan. The worst part, of course, was that Murata had... er, succeeded, in his objective.

"Because I'm charming that way?" said Murata. Gwendal looked back at him, only to find him playing with Gwendal's ponytail. Gwendal's breath hitched, and he was absolutely certain that he was redder than before.

"Stop that!"

(In the end, Murata wins, and Gwendal is forced to admit that he really doesn't mind _that _much but really could Murata at least let them get through half of the peasant requests before starting on his... machinations?

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Murata gasps between kisses. He is leaning against the wall in a deserted corridor, and his hands are tangled in Gwendal's hair. His glasses are askew. "But, uh, if you don't want me to do something..." He takes a break which Gwendal thought was for breathing but instead turned out to be for moaning, as Gwendal finds a particularly sensitive spot on his stomach. "Why are you rewarding me for it?")

* * *

But don't get them wrong.

They actually can agree on many things.

Even if they don't both like early-morning or late-night (and really, there's only a difference of about an hour or two between those, anyway), they both like sunsets and warm golden afternoons. They are both addicted to potato chips (though Murata gets his fix much more easily than Gwendal does, and he always sneaks some into the Demon Kingdom), and once Gwendal understood the controls he was quite proficient at games on Murata's old-school Gameboy Color.

But Murata and Gwendal's... relationship, whatever it is, isn't tied to things like preferences for the color blue (Murata's favorite) or green (Gwendal's). It's tied to their similar temperaments, their mutual love for order and peace. With, of course, a little bit of weirdness every now and then to mix things up, though admittedly Murata is much better at providing the weirdness than Gwendal is at mixing his routine up.

So sometimes they sacrifice sleep (in the morning for Murata, or in the middle of the night for Gwendal) for things that Murata refers to in rather vulgar terms and what Gwendal doesn't ever refer to at all except with an embarrassed throat-clearing noise and a blush. Murata is beginning to tone it down on the seduction of Gwendal during meetings. A little.

And in the afternoons, they find a quiet room and Gwendal knits, Murata reads, and they do that in peace and quiet. They don't get angry with each other for eating the last of their respective favorite snacks. Gwendal gives Murata random things, and Murata is moderately embarrassed that he doesn't know exactly what to give Gwendal, but it's fine because Gwendal doesn't actually know what to give him either.

(And that's another thing they have in common. They don't know what the hell they're doing anymore, and they can't get enough.)

"I know I'm supposed to give you gifts," says Gwendal in a gruff, embarrassed tone, giving him another cat-bear-thing. Murata hasn't necessarily told Gwendal that he keeps them all in a row on his bed. Or that he doesn't really mind if Gwendal stops giving him them... because, well, now he would mind very much. "But I'm not very good at this. I've never... done this kind of thing before, even openly."

"I have," says Murata. "And I've been courted. But neither as me. So this is different. And it's perfect. You're doing just fine."

He gives Gwendal a flashy white-toothed smile, bigger than usual, because he's nervous about what he's going to say, too.

"What do you think about coming to Earth for a while?" asks Murata. "Someday. Long enough to stay for a week or two. When I live on my own, and you can stay in my apartment. You've been there for a little while, on occasion, but I wish I could show you around. We could see a movie, and I could take you out to dinner someplace nice, and... yeah."

"I would like to see your world more," Gwendal says. "I've only seen brief glimpses. I would like to see the places that are important to you."

He glances at Murata, a little bit embarrassed by the looks of it.

Murata's stomach does that flipping thing again, and his heart is in his throat. He swallows, and smiles, somehow still nervous, even though Gwendal's just said yes. He's starting to get the picture of just what this is, and it isn't the awkward little fling he'd meant it to be when he'd thrown his arms around Gwendal and kissed him. Nope, it's a real, honest-to-goodness romance, and he is in love with Gwendal and Gwendal is in love with him.

So now, he wonders, what are they going to do with it?


End file.
